The rollout of 5G wireless technology will make mobile communications dramatically faster and more efficient. But 5G could also lead to dangerous setbacks for weather forecasting. That is the worry voiced by national and international science agencies and independent experts. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), however, which regulates U.S. wireless networks, doesn't seem concerned—and that's a big problem.

5G无线技术的推出将极大地提高移动通信的速度和效率。但是5G也可能导致天气预报遭受挫折。这是国家和国际科学机构以及独立专家表达的担忧。但是，监管美国无线网络的联邦通信委员会（FCC）似乎并不担心-这是一个大问题。

5G promises better performance than earlier generations of wireless telecommunications. Some of 5G's frequency bands, however, are perilously close to those used by weather instruments on Earth­orbiting satellites. The 5Gtransmissions at 24 gigahertz can overlap with the 23.8­GHz signal naturally emitted by atmospheric water vapor and monitored by these instruments. Visible in day or night, through clear or cloudy skies, the 23.8­GHz signal is are liable indicator of humidity that is used to sharpen weather forecasts—including the strengths, locations and paths of storms—on scales from hours to days. Unless, that is, the data are disrupted by some source of interference—such as the signals emitted by new 5G base stations and devices.

5G有望提供比早期无线通信更好的性能。但是，某些5G频段非常接近地球轨道卫星上的气象仪器所使用的频段。240千兆赫的5G传输可以与大气水蒸气自然发出的23.8千兆赫信号重叠，并由这些仪器监控。在白天或夜晚，无论晴天还是多云，都可以看到23.8千兆赫信号，这是湿度的可靠指标，用于从几小时到几天的时间范围内，提高天气预报的准确性，包括强度，位置和风暴路径。除非数据被某些干扰源干扰，比如新的5G基站和设备发出的信号。

That interference is measured in units called decibel watts, and several agencies have called for relatively strict limits on how much of this electronic noise is permissible—the more negative the number, the stricter. The European Commission, for example, set a maximum threshold of –42 decibel watts. But during an inaugural auction last year for U.S. rights to use the 24­GHztransmission band, the FCC set a much looser noise limit of–20 decibel watts—well in excess of ceilings based on studies from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Navy.

干扰是以分贝瓦特为单位测量的，一些机构已经要求对这种电子噪音的许可强度进行相对严格的限制-数字越负，就越严格。例如，欧盟委员会将最大阈值设置为–42分贝。但是，在去年针对美国使用24GHz传输频带的权利的首次拍卖中，FCC根据美国国家航空航天局、美国国家海洋与大气管理局(NOAA)和美国海军的研究，将噪音限制放宽至20分贝瓦特，远远超过了上限。

After the auction, NOAA acting administrator Neil Jacobs told Congress that the FCC's lax noise limits would result in as much as a 77 percent drop in satellite water vapor data. This, Jacobs said, could lead to a two­ to three­day lagin predicting the movements of hurricanes, effectively throwing the nation's satellite­based forecasting capabilities back to 1980levels. Moreover, Jacobs testified, 5G interference could force NOAA to abandon plans for new weather satellites.

拍卖结束后，美国国家海洋和大气管理局代理局长尼尔·雅各布斯告诉国会，联邦通信委员会宽松的噪音限制将导致卫星水蒸汽数据下降77%。雅各布斯说，这可能会导致未来两到三天的飓风运动预测滞后，从而使美国以卫星为基础的预测能力推回到1980年的水平。此外，雅各布斯证实，5G干扰可能会迫使NOAA放弃新的气象卫星计划。

Yet late last fall delegates of the International Telecommunication Union Radio communication Sector (ITU­R), the organization managing global radio­spectrum use, agreed to introductory 5G noise limits of between –29 and –33 decibel watts. Taking effect this year, the ITU­R limits are more stringent than the FCC's but are still likely to be a problem for meteorologists.

然而，去年秋天，管理全球无线电频谱使用的国际电信联盟(ITUR)的代表们同意引入介于–29至–33分贝瓦之间的5G噪声限值。从今年起生效，ITU­R的限制比FCC的限制更为严格，但对于气象学家来说仍可能是一个问题。

Responding to congressional concerns before last spring's auction, commission chair Ajit Pai defended the decisions on 5Gnoise limits, calling criticisms "exaggerated and unverified last minute assertions." Yet it is the FCC, not its critics, that is failing to validate its claims: as of this writing, the commission has yet to produce any study supporting its recommended 5G noise limits. Meanwhile the agency is planning auctions of other5G­frequency bands that overlap with satellite monitoring of precipitation, clouds and sea ice.

针对国会在去年春季拍卖前的担忧，委员会主席阿吉特•帕伊(Ajit Pai)为有关5G噪音限制的决定辩护，称批评“在最后一刻被夸大和未经证实”。然而，未能验证其说法的是FCC，而不是它的批评者:在撰写本文时，委员会尚未拿出任何支持其建议的5G噪声限制的研究。与此同时，该机构正在计划拍卖与卫星监测降水，云层和海冰重叠的其他5G频段。

These actions are part of a broader, more disturbing pattern of imperious behavior by the FCC. The agency has already opened up previously protected regions of the radio spectrum for new uses while rapidly moving forward with approvals for globe girdling constellations of satellites offering broadband Internet.

这些行动是FCC更广泛、更令人不安的专横行为模式的一部分。该机构已经开放了以前受保护的无线电频谱区域，以供新用途，同时迅速推进对全球宽带互联网卫星星座的批准。

Both types of activity could degrade a wide array of astronomical observations from ground­based telescopes, and a massive influx of new satellites also poses significant risks of creating more "space junk," which already threatens existingorbital assets, including the International Space Station.

这两种类型的活动都可能使地面望远镜的大量天文观测数据质量下降，而大量新卫星的涌入也会带来产生更多“太空垃圾”的重大风险，这已经威胁到包括国际空间站在内的现有轨道资产。

Fortunately, the FCC is not unaccountable. In a rare instance of congressional bipartisanship, in December 2019 the top Democrat and Republican on the House Science Committee jointly asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate why, exactly, the FCC's 5G recommendations differ so strongly from those of other federal agencies.

幸运的是，FCC并不是不负责任的。在国会罕见的两党合作中，2019年12月，众议院科学委员会最高民主党和共和党人共同要求政府问责办公室调查为什么FCC的5G建议与其他联邦机构的建议如此强烈地不同。

This is a good start. Congress should use its considerable powers, budgetary and otherwise, to increase pressure on the FCC to "show its work" and to engage more meaningfully with dissenting government agencies, scientific institutions and other stakeholders to develop sustainable solutions for 5G—and for accurate weather forecasting.